How Effective Are Twitter Hashtags During TV Commercials? [STUDY]

Hashtags are everywhere, and it’s now very unusual for a major television program or event not to include its own hashtag to encourage viewers to talk about the show online with friends and followers. And sometimes a single hashtag isn’t enough – reality talent programming such as The X Factor, American Idol and Britain’s Got Talent use multiple hashtags during each show.

Marketers are starting to take notice, and hashtags are increasingly popping up during commercials. The Super Bowl, the most-watched TV event of the year, was actively discussed on social media, and brands who advertised during the game hoped to control these conversations with specific hashtags. But did it pay off?

More than half of the ads that aired during the Super Bowl this year made some mention of social media, with many using hashtags. Sysomos analysed the reaction to 21 of these tags on Twitter, and discovered that people preferred to tweet about the brand itself rather than the commercial, and, subsequently, brands that used their own name as the hashtag (i.e., #doritos) performed better than those that did not.

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